Evisu appoints Scott Morrison as CEO
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Scott Morrison, the co-founder of denim brands Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn, has been appointed as global chief executive for Japanese denim brand Evisu. Part of his strategy is to get back to the iconic heritage, clarify and simplify the brand message, improve the product and move the collections into a more contemporary style, which suits both European and American markets. Morrison is going to oversee all markets except Japan, where the brand was founded in 1991.
Evisu will move their worldwide headquarters to New York from Hong Kong, where its parent company Bestford Ltd. is based. Bestford and Peter Caplowe acquired the Evisu trademarks for all markets outside of Japan from Evisu founder Hidehiko Yamane in February 2006. The transaction was funded by New York based hedge fund Indus Capital Partners, which owns a majority stake in Bestford.
Evisu posted sales of about $30 million at wholesale outside of Japan, with less than $4 million of that in the U.S. There are 19 freestanding stores outside of Japan, with none in the U.S. Yamane still owns and operates the business in Japan with 61 freestanding making a profit of $50 million annually.
A small capsule collection of Evisu’ new direction will be shown at the Pitti Uomo in Florence and Bread & Butter in Berlin this summer. The fully overhauled collection will be ready for Autumn/Winter 2010 deliveries.
Scott Morrison, 36 years old, created in 1999 the instantly popular Paper Denim & Cloth label. As President and designer he quickly established the growing operation as one of the world's premium denim brands. Inspired by that growth he began incorporating other areas of personal and cultural interest into the budding lifestyle concept. After almost 5 years at one of the first American success stories in the premium denim market Morrison decided to leave in 2004 to found and design the dual-fold concept, "Earnest Sewn" and "An Earnest Cut & Sew". This venture lasted till March of this year, and with his hiring at Evisu he is again back in the denim business, this time at the helm of one of the world’s most iconic brands.